High impact discobery offshore Tanzania

Statoil and partner ExxonMobil have made a large gas discovery offshore Tanzania in the first exploration well in Block 2.

Statoil announced on February 17 that the partnership had encountered indications of natural gas in the Zafarani exploration well in the Block 2 licence offshore Tanzania.

The logging results now show that the discovery is a high impact discovery, so far proving up to 5 Tcf of gas in-place.

The well has encountered 120m of excellent quality reservoir with high porosity and high permeability. The gas-water contact has not been established and drilling operations are on-going.

Tim Dodson, executive vice president for exploration at Statoil, said: "This discovery is the first Statoil operated discovery in East Africa and an important event for the future development of the Tanzanian gas industry.

"It is also a demonstration of how Statoil’s exploration strategy of early access and high impact opportunities strongly supports the company’s ambition for international growth."